With a Wonder and a Wild Desire
by Sultan Peppershaker
Summary: ...'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.' [Marcel Proust]... 'No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.' [Isaac Newton]


**Alrighty… so I'm back… and, if you are registered and review, I will definitely explain to you what I've been up to, since you're probably curious about a few things. Assuming I haven't contacted youalready...

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He lay down in his bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of what had happened earlier that day…

"_The stars are beautiful tonight,_" _she said, looking up at the sky in awe_.

...And he found himself looking at her in a way he only had on a few occasions before…

"_Whenever… wherever, baby… you'll protect me, no matter what…"_

"…_You look pretty adorable for someone who isn't interested in Via…"_

"_I'm sorry I made you jealous… even though… I kind of liked it…"_

"_See you around, sweetie pie…"_

Though he just barely averted his eyes before she took any notice this time…

His mind wandered for a while more, and, in a split-second decision, he picked up his phone and called her up.

"Bzzhhaat?" a groggy voice answered at the other end.

"Keely?"

"Ffuuuffghhrr…" the voice responded.

"Keely?"

"Phil?" she asked, finally coming into the realm of consciousness.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Why are you calling at this hour?"

"What time is it?"

Keely consulted her clock. "It's 2:23," she responded. "I hope you didn't wake up Ashley or Bonnie. They might kill you."

"Oh… I'm sorry… It's just that I just… I want to tell you…"

"…Want to tell me…" she prompted, after a silence.

Another pause.

"Phil?" she asked.

"I just want to tell you that I'll never leave you," he responded.

"Well, that's a very thoughtful and reassuring, but also disruptive, thought, Phil."

"I'm sorry, I just… I wanted to let you know…"

"I don't even think that's really your decision, Phil," she responded. "I mean, if your dad fixes the time machine…" Keely paused, considering the probability of that actually happening. "Well, I'm glad you let me know that," she said. "And I love how you thought it was so important to wake me up at three in the morning. Do you have any idea what my sisters will do to me now?"

"Well, I… maybe they didn't wake up?"

"You'd better hope so, Phil," she said.

"And you…?"

"And I what?"

"Will you ever… leave me?"

"Why are you--"

"I just… want an answer, okay?"

"No, I'll never leave you, Phil…"

"Thanks, Keely," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "That really means a lot to me."

"Know what means a lot to me?"

"What?"

"Sleep," she said, and Phil heard a dial tone.

_**I just wanted you to comfort me  
When I called you late last night, you see  
I was falling into love  
Yes, I was crashing into love  
Oh, of all the words you sang to me  
About life, the truth, and bein' free  
Yeah, you sang to me  
Oh, how you sang to me**_

"So," Keely said, driving down Imrie Lane, "Phil called me at two in the morning today…"

"Two-twenty-three," Bonnie corrected, from the backseat.

"Why did he call you at that hour?" Via asked, looking over at Keely from the shotgun seat.

"He wanted to reassure me that he wasn't leaving me…"

"Anything else?"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… wait. He called you at 2:23 in the morning to tell you that _he wasn't leaving_ you?" Bonnie shouted. "Why the hell did he do that?"

"He wanted me to tell him that I wasn't leaving… what do you think about that?" Keely asked, looking at Via, disregarding her sister.

"I don't know, Keely… maybe the late hour was messing with his mind…" Via responded.

"Stop sign!" Bonnie shouted. Keely snapped her focus back to the road, pulling to a stop.

"So you think he was just… groggy?"

"Could be, Keely. I'm not sure. You don't remember exactly what he said?"

"Just that he wanted to tell me he wasn't leaving, and he wanted to know if I'd ever leave him…"

"That's it?"

"Well, yeah, basically. I mean, he was a little hesitant to tell me that much, even."

"Hesitant?" Via asked, and Keely looked over at her, nodding.

"Yeah, he paused for, like, half a minute."

Via studied her shoes, nodding slightly.

"Turn!" Bonnie shouted, and Keely's attention snapped back to the road.

"So, what? Is the pause significant?"

"Could be," Via muttered. "I mean… you'd think that he'd know what he'd want to say, right? He had plenty of time to think about it before he called you…"

"Two… twenty… three," Bonnie reminded Keely, every syllable filled with murderous rage.

"So… you think he was going to say something else?"

"He may have been…"

"Person… _person!_" Bonnie shouted, and Keely snapped her head up, slamming on the breaks to allow a pedestrian to cross.

"Maybe… somebody else should drive, Keely," Via suggested politely.

Keely wasn't listening. What did Via mean? What could he have possibly been thinking about? Was he going to say he loved her? She wasn't sure how she would've felt about that… on the one hand, he would love her… on the other hand, he wouldn't be able to stay if Lloyd fixed the time machine, no matter how big an 'if' that may be.

Then again, what if the pause meant nothing? Maybe he was just thinking of exactly how to word what he had said… who could say for certain? Maybe he was just doing something else entirely, and she was just reading too much into a simple pause.

She pulled into the Bocage parking lot. Surely shopping for clothes would take her mind off of these matters.

"I'm driving on the way back," Bonnie said, happily jumping out of the car.

_**Girl, I live off how you make me feel  
So I question all this bein' real  
'Cause I'm not afraid to love  
For the first time, I'm not afraid to love  
Oh, this day seems made for you and me  
And you showed me what life needs to be  
Yeah, you sang to me  
Oh, you sang to me**_

Phil woke up with a pounding headache. He got out of bed, changed his clothes, and went into the bathroom. For a second, the shaving mirror reflected Keely's window. Properly adjusted, it reflected Phil's whiskers. He shaved them off.

Toothpaste on the brush, scrub… spit and rinse.

He wasn't sure what he'd done that had given him such a terrible headache… he vaguely remembered going to bed at a very late hour. The word "telephone" wandered through his mind, and he tried to connect it to something. But, it passed as abruptly as it came, still wandering in solitude.

He descended the stairs, thinking that he'd enjoy some orange juice, when, suddenly, the word "reassuring" danced into his mind. He searched for something to connect it to, but again, it left.

Boy, the headache was something, though. He could've sworn he was forgetting something about last night… something he did… or almost did, perhaps.

He opened the fridge, took out the orange juice, and took out a glass. He undid the cap, and began to pour.

And as if somebody turned on a light in his head, it occurred to him just what he'd forgotten about last night. Keely, he was going to tell Keely something important, something vitally important.

He couldn't quite remember if he told her he loved her or not… no, he didn't think so, no. He had--

He looked down at his hand, which was suddenly dripping with orange juice. The cup had overflowed; apparently, he'd frozen in place when he remembered what had happened the night prior.

With the mess cleaned up, the orange juice downed, the hand washed, he walked next door to the Teslow house, and knocked thrice upon the door.

"Hey, Ashley," he said, when the brunette opened the door.

"Huh? Who said that?" Ashley joked, looking around. She looked down, and said, "Oh, hey, Phil. Didn't see you there."

"Is Keely around?"

"No, she's out with Via and Bonnie."

"Oh…" Phil said, looking at the ground. After a beat, he added, "I guess that's probably just as well…"

"Why?" she asked, stepping aside so he could enter.

"I haven't really thought through what I was about to do."

"Which, I'm assuming is…" Ashley trailed off, but somehow, Phil knew exactly what she was talking about, and nodded. "I figured as much…"

"It'd be so much easier if there was some sort of truth ray on my WIZRD…" Phil muttered.

"You said what now?"

"Huh?" he asked. Realizing his mistake, he stumbled for an answer. "I said, uh…I wish… there was a wizard… that could cast a spell of truth on me.

Ashley snickered. "Trust me, Phil, that's not the best thing to do, sometimes."

"Huh?"

"Well… one time, this guy came up to me… and he said how badly he wanted to make love to me… and how he would never tell anybody just how much he did… he said that he could be tortured for eternity, but he'd never tell…"

Phil widened his eyes. "Wow. That's, um… mildly disturbing."

"So maybe a truth ray wouldn't be your best route," Ashley said, rolling her eyes.

"I guess not… maybe I shouldn't even do this. This might be a mistake… I mean… there's so many things that could happen… what if I have to move? What if she doesn't love me back?"

Ashley looked at Phil, a sad expression on her face. He looked up at her, as if asking for help.

"I just don't think this is a good idea," he said, eventually.

Ashley walked to the staircase, and said, "You're making the biggest mistake of your life."

_**All the while you were in front of me, I never realized  
I just can't believe I didn't see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it… when you sing to me  
How I long to hear you sing beneath the clear blue skies  
And I promise you this time I'll see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it… when you sing to me**_

_It would've been so much easier if I'd have just told her when I had the chance_, Phil thought, remembering what had happened just last year, over summer vacation… even though he hadn't realized just what he felt for her back then…

_A sunset, sinking into the depths of the Pacific ocean, overlooked the two of them, walking side-by-side._

"_You know, Keely," he had said, glancing at her, "you're not the only one who can write pretty words that rhyme…"_

_Keely raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean by that? Do you have a poem for me?"_

"_It's just that, I realized that you wrote 'Protecting Me' and dedicated it to me, so… I thought it'd be nice if I wrote a poem and dedicated it to you…"_

"_Aw, Phil…" she said, in a voice that particularly bugged him._

"_Now if only I could remember where I had it," he said, fishing in his pockets. "I, uh… I had it…" he said, smiling at her, then looking around, as if he had perhaps dropped it. "I don't understand, I had it with me…"_

_Keely smirked as he searched for his paper, but, he gave up eventually, turning to her._

"_Guess I didn't have it with me… I don't really remember what it said… I'm sorry…"_

"_It's okay, Phil… you didn't have to do that for me, anyway…"_

_The two fell into a silence again, and took a seat on a large, flat rock. The waves lazily crashed into their bare feet, periodically, as they watched the sun set into the sea._

"_Phil, can I ask you a question?"_

"_I think you just did… but I'll let you ask one more."_

"_What's your _second_ deepest darkest secret?" she asked, assuming she knew the first._

"_I'm from the future," he replied. This took Keely by surprise._

"_Then what's your number one secret?"_

_He looked at her, and sighed. "I'm philophobic," he replied, turning back to the sunset._

_Keely, however, thought he had made up a word meant to mean that he was afraid of himself, and sniggered a little. He didn't notice her do this, though, and assumed that she knew exactly what he was talking about._

"_I'm, uh, sorry to hear that, Phil," she replied, eventually._

"_It's terrible," he said. "It's terrible to be afraid of something like that…"_

"_Tell me about it…" she responded._

_He looked at her again. "Keely?" he asked._

"_Yeah?" she muttered, turning her focus from the sea to him._

_His brain told his mouth to comment on her song, but somewhere in between, beneath her stare, the message was lost. "Nothing…" he muttered. "Never mind."_

_The two turned back to the sunset._

_**Just to think, you live inside of me  
I had no idea how this could be  
Now I'm crazy for your love  
Can't believe I'm crazy for your love  
The words you said you sang to me  
And you showed me where I want to be,  
You sang to me  
Oh, you sang to me**_

"You know, Keely," Bonnie said, "you won't be able to avoid this forever…"

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Stop playing coy!"

"Coy? I'm not being coy…"

"Yeah, you're being coy. Via, is she being coy?"

"Yes, coy."

"Coy!" Bonnie affirmed. "You know you can't avoid this situation forever!"

"What situation?"

"What's your problem?" Bonnie asked.

"Can't you see it?" Via asked.

"You… and Phil," the two girls chirruped.

"Oh, well that's balderdash," Keely laughed.

"Very funny, Keely… you're totally transparent."

Keely sighed. "Well… I mean, it's just… all these times, I've thought that he was going to say something… that he was going to make a move… I've set him up for it plenty of times… but he hasn't done anything… I guess he just doesn't feel the same way that I feel…"

"Keely," Via said, "you don't know that…"

"But he would've _done_ something by now! No guy in this dimension, in this _century_, is this reserved if he really likes a girl!"

"Well maybe he's not from this century," Bonnie said.

_**All the while you were in front of me, I never realized  
I just can't believe I didn't see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it… when you sing to me  
How I long to hear you sing beneath the clear blue skies  
And I promise you this time I'll see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it… when you sing to me**_

"What did you say?" Phil asked, jumping up from the couch.

"You're making the biggest mistake of your life," Ashley repeated.

"Wait!" he shouted, running after her. "What do you mean?"

Ashley sighed. "You're second-guessing yourself…"

"But… so… I…"

"Have a seat, Phil," Ashley commanded, walking back down the stairs. Phil sat down on the couch, and Ashley looked down at him.

"Now… what do you have to say about Keely?"

"Keely? Keely is… Keely is

* * *

"Keely!" Bonnie said, snapping her fingers in her sister's face. "Snap out of it!" 

"Huh?" Keely asked.

"What are you thinking about?"

"You said… never mind," Keely said, deciding not to press matters any further.

"So," Via said, "why do you think that he's the only one that can make a move?"

Keely sighed. "I know how I feel about him… but I don't know how he feels about me… I don't know what he'd say if I made a move… I'm not entirely sure if I want to find out what he'd say…"

"Playing it safe, eh?" Bonnie asked. "Well, sure that's a good approach, if you're afraid of being hurt. But you know what that also means? You know what playing it safe really means? You're weak!"

"But I don't want to ruin our friendship… I can't risk something as meaningful as that…"

"Ever think that Phil's thinking the same thing?" Via asked.

Keely sighed. "No… Phil wouldn't be thinking that…"

Via rolled her eyes. "Okay. I assume you know what you're talking

* * *

"…about," Ashley said. "You're all she ever talks about… she's even writing all her songs about you…" 

"I never knew…" Phil muttered.

"Well, of course. You're a guy. You're clueless." Phil shot her an unappreciative look. "I could squash you, Phil," she warned. "Watch it…"

Phil widened his eyes as several horrifying mental images filled his head… then, realizing she didn't know the truth, he was able to push those images out of his mind, for the most part.

"So… she really… talks about me like that?"

"Yes… it's really quite annoying."

Phil nodded, staring ahead, blankly.

"I never knew that…" Phil repeated. "I… wow…"

"Yeah, it's really _freakin'_

* * *

"…amazing," Bonnie said, pulling out of the parking lot. "Keely didn't buy a single thing." 

"I know, Keely, what's wrong? Are you feeling ill?" Via asked.

"No… just… I'm fine…" Keely said, detachedly.

"You don't seem fine," Bonnie muttered, pulling out onto the highway.

"I'm perfectly okay," Keely reassured her. "I was just… thinking…"

"What about?"

"About how I'm right, and you're wrong."

"How do you figure?"

"Well… I mean, there have been plenty of chances that he's had to do something… to make a move… but he hasn't. I mean, I've even set him up to make a move several times, but he's done nothing. So, clearly… he's not interested. How much proof do I need to give you?"

"If he makes a move on another girl, I'll give it to you…"

"Whatever… I'm

* * *

"Right," Phil muttered. "That opened my eyes…" 

"Well, I'm glad," Ashley said, getting up from her seat on the couch.

Phil looked up at Ashley. "Thank you! Thank you! _Thank you, you _beautiful_ woman_!" he shouted. He jumped up, ran over to her, kissed her swiftly on the lips, and ran out the door.

Ashley watched after him, puzzled. She then shook her head, muttering, "Okay… whatever…"

_**All the while you were in front of me, I never realized  
I just can't believe I didn't see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it… when you sing to me  
How I long to hear you sing beneath the clear blue skies  
And I promise you this time I'll see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it… when you sing to me**_

Phil lay in his bed, unable to sleep. Just tomorrow… he'd make his move. He couldn't wait…

He really couldn't.

He hopped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and quietly snuck downstairs. Ever so quietly, he opened the front door, and snuck out. He crept next door, picked up a small rock, and threw it at the upstairs window. "Keely!" he whispered.

The window opened, and Ashley stuck her head out. "Keely's window's the next one over," she replied. He thanked her, and snuck over to the next window.

Again, he threw a small rock at the window, and hissed, "Keely!"

The window slid open, and Keely leaned out. "Phil," she whispered, blearily, "what are you doing here?"

"Meet me at the back door!" he called out. She nodded, and disappeared from view, so he ran around to the back, to meet her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked again, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"I just had to come… I couldn't wait…"

"Couldn't wait for what?"

"Keely," Phil said, "I… I've been blind, all this time."

"What do you mean?" she asked. Her brain wasn't quite functioning at full speed at this hour.

"I… I think I've just been denying my true feelings for you. All this time… I never noticed what you were saying to me… I never knew I could love someone this way… I never knew what you were saying to me… but now I know… and I know that I don't want to spend one more minute without you."

Keely looked up at Phil through her lashes, her eyes watering slightly. "Phil," she whispered.

"Keely… I think that if I don't kiss you right now, I just might die."

"We--"

But Phil sealed her lips off. She was initially shocked, but then responded, deepening the kiss.

Eventually, the two pulled apart, only because the body can only go so long without oxygen intake.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that," Keely whispered, and Phil smirked.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and walked back to his house, though he could've sworn his feet never touched the ground.

Keely shut the door, and fell back against it, leaning against it for support. When the strength returned to her legs, she mounted the stairs, and saw that Bonnie was standing in the hallway. "So what happened between you two?" she asked, looking at her sister's disheveled hair. Keely couldn't speak: She smiled, sighed, and walked into her room.

_**All the while you were in front of me, I never realized  
I just can't believe I didn't see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it… when you sing to me  
How I long to hear you sing beneath the clear blue skies  
And I promise you this time I'll see it in your eyes  
I didn't see it, I can't believe it  
Oh, but I feel it…

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**_

**So did you like it? Please review- I live off those things! Again, I'll fill in all members on my situation.**


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